Eight days after beating the defending Super Bowl champs, the Green Bay Packers laid an egg against the New York Giants, one of the league’s worst teams this season.
The Giants wore their throwback jerseys, but it was the Packers who threw it back — to an October-like performance where all three phases failed. Jordan Love played one of his worst games this season, and Matt LaFleur’s playcalling was questionable. The defense played with zero urgency, and special teams kept finding new ways to set the rest of the team back.
Special teams, in particular, is becoming a massive issue for the Packers. An abysmal performance against the Giants highlighted just how disjointed the we-fence is. Rich Bisaccia was supposed to be the respected coordinator and a solid support structure for the offense. But Bisaccia’s group looks like Green Bay’s worst unit — and Joe Barry runs one of those units.
It’s officially time to be concerned about special teams again.
The Packers hired Bisaccia to fix the culture and developmental process of special teams in Green Bay. The unit looked to be trending upward in Year 1. Bisaccia’s personality makes players want to run through a wall for him. At the very least, I would go to the gym when it’s cold outside for him, and I don’t want to go.
But Year 2 has been a massive disappointment. Penalties are destroying the offense’s field position, the missed kicks are becoming concerning, and the return game isn’t as electric as last season.
All of that was on full display against the Giants. Anders Carlson missed a field goal in what was ultimately a two-point game. While Giants’ kicker Randy Bullock also missed a field goal, it doesn’t excuse Carlson’s miss.
Keisean Nixon is usually a dynamic and savvy runner, and he had arguably the team’s worst play on a muffed punt. Nixon recovered the initial muffing. But rather than staying on the ball and letting the play end there, he got back up and fumbled. The Giants quickly scored off the turnover, flipping the lead in New York’s favor.
The offense certainly struggled in similar ways to how it did in October, but it doesn’t help Love and Co. when special teams penalties keep hurting field position. An early illegal blindside block set Love’s second drive back, while a kick interference penalty on that drive’s punt gave the Giants excellent field position.
Green Bay’s special teams unit is the most penalized in the league, and they added to that total tonight. Why is this happening under Bisaccia?
It’s hard to figure out what changed between the 2022 and 2023 seasons to cause this regression. The Packers had limited cap space in free agency, but the moves made were to keep a good special teams corps. Green Bay had released Amari Rodgers, meaning the return game should have been better.
Many core special teamers played under Bisaccia in Green Bay and even with the Raiders. They should know the expectations and be much more disciplined than they’ve been. Bisaccia appeared to have a lot of freedom in choosing his personnel, so it’s hard to use that as an excuse, even if Tyler Davis‘ absence is problematic for the group.
Even with a familiar core, it’s a stretch to think Bisaccia’s messages are already stale. He’s consistently been viewed as a good culture coach, and he’s only been in Green Bay for less than two full seasons.
Anders Carlson was always going to be a bit of a roller coaster — accuracy was his main concern, while his leg strength was a selling point. But he’s been steadily trending downward for most of the year, and the Packers don’t seem willing to give him chances to make long attempts. It’s concerning.
There are a lot of questions on why special teams has regressed, and it’s challenging to find the answer. Did the team just get lucky with penalties last season? Did Nixon’s dynamic returning ability mask other issues? Is Green Bay just forever forced to be min-maxed in only offense performance, neglecting defense and special teams?
The problem seems to transcend coordinators and schemes. Even if Bisaccia’s group has been disappointing, I can’t see any better option readily available. The veteran coordinator needs to find a way to get his group to at least become league average.
Green Bay’s special teams unit was supposed to help carry the baby offense and the underperforming defense. Instead, it’s been actively making life difficult for the team again. As seems to be the eternal case, Green Bay is looking at a bottom-five special teams ranking.
